1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for utilizing a back channel as a feedback system to regulate the quality of a broadcast. More specifically, the present invention is directed to tracking user behavior information at home entertainment systems corresponding to the broadcast, transmitting the tracked information as feedback across a back channel, and modifying the quality of the broadcast as a result of the feedback. While the systems and methods of the present invention are applicable to any broadcast system, they are particularly useful for high volume digital television systems that currently exist worldwide via cable and satellite television.
2. Background and Related Art
Historically, television has been a source of entertainment for the general public and a medium through which an enormous number of individuals can be reached. However, operators of digital television (i.e. cable television, satellite television, etc.) are limited by current transmission capacities and thus seek ways to optimize the available bandwidth. The current method for maximizing the bandwidth includes a broadcast center controlling the amount of bandwidth allocated to each channel according to the likelihood of viewer participation. As a marketing decision, greater portions of the bandwidth and, as a result, greater image quality, are reserved for the channels that are more likely to be watched by the general public. For example, a channel that broadcasts an international soccer match would be allocated less bandwidth in the United States than a channel that broadcasts a professional football game because of the potential to obtain a greater television audience.
Current methods used to gather information on viewer participation are extremely limited as to the amount and type of information that is gathered. By way of example, members of the viewing public are paid by businesses to record in logbooks the television channels they watch during a sample period of time and then mail the logbooks to a central location after the completion of the sample period. At the central location, the information from the logbooks is manually entered into a database. This method limits the amount of data that is gathered because viewers are generally not willing to invest large portions of time to register information in logbooks. Furthermore, inaccuracies are introduced into the gathered data due to the viewers' desires to quickly complete the registering of information and the existence of human error in the manual registering process.
Another method includes installing devices in the homes of viewers to monitor and record the channels tuned during a sample period. Each viewer of a household is assigned a symbol recognizable to the device and is responsible to select the symbol to indicate that he or she is watching the television. From time to time the device flashes a red light to remind the viewers to select their corresponding symbol. The viewing information recorded by the device includes the channels tuned and the viewing date and time. Later, the viewing information is converted into usable data by identifying the corresponding television programs that were scheduled for the identified channel at the recorded viewing date and time.
The conversion process is performed at a central location and inaccuracies result in the converted data when, for example, last minute changes are made in the programming schedule, cable companies place network stations in different places in the channel lineup, programs are aired at different times in different locations, and viewers receive a signal that is broadcast from a different time zone. Moreover, the conversion process can involve a significant amount of data processing because the television programming that is broadcast on a given channel at a specified time can vary from locality to locality. Furthermore, this method relies on a broadcaster encoding each program for detection by the device and is therefore inappropriate for tracking less popular, locally produced, or exclusively cable-based programming.
Bandwidth for video today is a scarce commodity, and therefore expensive. Indeed the great value of using a broadcast medium for video is the greatly lower bandwidth requirement. But viewer demand for higher quality video (e.g., HDTV) and additional applications like video-on-demand (“VOD”) and interactive enhancements continues to grow. The lack of meaningful and reliable data as to actual viewer participation forces digital television operators to allocate greater portions of bandwidth based on a likelihood or hunch of where the greater viewer participation will exist. (A broadcast center, such as a cable headend, often supplies the broadcast feeds to as few as a few hundred households.) However, because viewer participation varies from state-to-state, city-to-city, and neighborhood-to-neighborhood, the basis on which bandwidth is allocated is vastly inefficient compared to usage requirements.